How Biden And The Fed Defanged The FANG Index And Clobbered Growth And Real Estate ETFs (Cousin Eddie And Clark Griswold Strike Again!)

There is no doubt that Biden is the Cousin Eddie of politics with his gifts that keep on giving. Like rampant inflation, soaring food, gasoline and diesel prices, and Pelosi/Schumer’s helping hand in creating price controls that will kill potential cures for illnesses.

In addition to rampant 40-year highs in inflation, we have the Clark Griswold of the economy, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, slamming his foot on the economic breaks to combat inflation created by Biden’s energy mandates and reckless Federal spending (like the aforementioned, laughable “Inflation Reduction Act.”

So, Biden helps creates massive inflation and Powell and the Gang counterattacked by raising their target rate with more to come (at least until May 2023). And with the implied Fed Funds rate soaring (red line), we are seeing the FANG stocks (Facebook or Meta, Amazon, Netflix and Google) falling more rapidly (white line) than the S&P 500 index. Which is also falling like a rock (yellow line). All this is happening as M2 Money YoY crashes and burns.

How about growth versus value under Cousin Eddie and Clark Griswold? The Vanguard Growth ETF and Vanguard Real Estate ETF are plunging with Fed tightening (red line). Vanguard’s Value ETV (yellow line) is down too, but not by as much.

Yes, Washington DC elites. The gift that keeps on giving … bad things.

Thanks to my former GMU student Andrew Edwards for the Cousin Eddie suggestion!

US Jobs: Private Payrolls Rise By 233k In October After Rising 319k In September (-27% MoM), Unemployment Rate Edges Up To 3.7% As Wage Growth Cools To 4.7% (Too Bad Inflation Is At 8.2%)

President Biden just lost one of his midterm election talking points. “The U-3 unemployment rate the lowest since (garbled) at 3.5%!” Because it now has risen in October to 3.7%.

Private payrolls added 233k jobs in October, which is a -27% decline from September’s revised private payroll figures.

The good news? Average hourly earnings growth is still positive, but fell to 3.7% YoY. But with inflation raging at 8.2% YoY, workers are getting clobbered by inflation.

Here is the rest of the story.

The Fed is now green-lighted to raise rates even higher.

Biden’s campaign promise was to unite rather than divide. But Biden has morphed into Gustaf Holst’s, Mars – Bringer of War! Both domestically and in the Ukraine.

US REAL 30yr Mortgage Rates Finally Turn Positive (0.32%) While REAL 10yr Treasury Yields Remain Negative (-2.50%)

It has been a wild and mostly negative ride under Biden’s Reign of Error. 40-year highs in inflation (caused by Biden’s fossil fuel mandates and Federal spending) have left the US mortgage market FINALLY seeing positive REAL mortgage rates (now 0.32%), even though the REAL 10yr Treasury yield is still negative (-2.50%).

Alarm! US Productivity Declines For 3rd Straight Quarter While Unit Labor Costs Rose 7.60% YoY, Fastest Since 1982

Alarm!

Even Joe Biden’s hate speech towards Republicans can’t mask the horrid inflation on his watch. As if Biden watches anything other than ice cream cones.

On a YoY basis, US Productivity is down for the 3rd straight quarter (and 4th quarter of the last 5).

On the mirror image of productivity, unit labor costs rose 3.5% QoQ (a notable slowing from the 8.9% QoQ growth in Q2). This was the 6th quarter in a row of rising unit labor costs (but was less than the +4.0% QoQ expected)…

However, on a YoY basis, that is the fastest growth since Q3 1982.

Yikes! The 2s10s Yield Curve Inversion Is the worst since the 1980s.

Terminal Velocity? Bank of England Raises Rates By 75 Basis Points, Biggest Hike in 33 Years (Follows US Fed Is Tightening, But Fed Still Slow To Shrink Balance Sheet As M2 Money Growth Collapses)

The Bank of England followed the Fed’s 75 basis-point increase with an equivalent hike on Thursday, but strongly pushed back against market expectations for the scale of future increases, warning that following that path would induce a two-year recession. The pound fell 1.8% to $1.1183.

Stocks and bonds fell as Jerome Powell’s warning that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates more than previously anticipated sapped risk appetite. The dollar gained.

Futures on the S&P 500 fell 1% in the wake of Wednesday’s 2.5% drop. The selloff spread to Europe and Asia, where China’s affirmation of its Covid-Zero stance dashed hopes of a reopening. Lumen Technologies Inc., Peloton Interactive Inc., Moderna Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. tumbled in premarket trading, while Etsy Inc. and EBay Inc. rose.

So, the BofE, Fed and ECB are back to 2008/2009 era central bank rates.

But the US Fed is slow to shrink its enormous balance sheet.

What happened to terminal rates in the US?

And M2 Money velocity (GDP/M2) seems terminal.

US 30Y Mortgage Rate Rises To 7.22% As Fed Combats Near 40-year High Bidenflation, BUT 10Y Treasury Yield DOWN -12 BPS This AM (US Treasury 10yr-3mo Curve Falling Further Into Inversion)

US 30-year mortgage rates are above 7% as The Federal Reserve slowly withdraws its Covid-related monetary stimulus and attempt to combat near 40-year highs in inflation under Biden (aka, Bidenflation).

However, the US Treasury 10-year yield is down -12 basis points this morning.

And we have an important predictor of recession, the Treasury 10yr-3mo yield curve.

And if the Republicans win The House (and maybe the Senate) at the midterms, Biden can blame Republicans for the recession.

Joe Biden, Hunter and Biden’s brother James must be singing “Damn, it feels good to be a Biden!“

The Fed’s BIG Green Bag (Of Money)! Goldman Sees Fed Rate Peaking In March At 5%, Core Inflation Rate UP > 400% Under Biden (US Yield Curve Inverted Prior To Nov 2nd FOMC Meeting)

The next Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in on Wednesday, November 2nd. Let’s see what The Fed does with its BIG GREEN BAG … OF MONEY.

As I set here on Sunday morning waiting to see how the Cleveland Browns will lose to cross-state rival Cincinnati Bengals, I see that both the US Treasury 10yr-2yr and 10yr-3mo yield curves are inverted (below zero).

Core inflation (CPI less food and energy) YoY (blue line) was only 1.3% in February 2021 shortly after Biden was sworn-in as President and is now 6.6% in September 2022. That is over a 400% increase in core inflation!

We have this tantalizing headline on Bloomberg:

Goldman Sachs Now Sees Fed Rates Peaking at 5% in March By Simon Kennedy(Bloomberg) —

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists said they now expect the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates to 5%, higher than previously predicted.

The central bank will lift its benchmark rate to a range of 4.75% to 5% in March, 25 basis points more than earlier expected, economists led by Jan Hatzius wrote in an Oct. 29 research report.

The route to the new peak includes increases of 75 basis points this week, 50 basis points in December and 25 basis points in February and March, they said.

The economists cited three reasons for expecting the Fed to hike beyond February: “uncomfortably high” inflation, the need to cool the economy as fiscal tightening ends and price-adjusted incomes climb, and to avoid a premature easing of financial conditions.

Well, not exactly earth-shattering. Fed Funds Futures data point to a peak of near 5% (4.905%) for the May 2023 FOMC meeting, so Goldman Sachs is calling for an earliest peak at the March 2023 FOMC meeting,

Regardless of what Goldman Sachs thinks, Fed officials are expecting a peak in 2023 followed by a decline to 2.5%.

Brainard and Bostic are the only “doves.” Which is silly because Chicago’s Evans is a perma-dove. Let’s see how the Dots Plot changes at the November 2nd meeting.

America’s distressed debt pile is biggest since September 2020.

US Q3 Real GDP At 1.8% YoY, GDP Price Index Falls To 4.1% YoY As M2 Money Crashes Most In History (UST 10yr – 3mo Yield Curve Inverts) Heating Oil UP 162% Under Biden

US Q3 GDP numbers are out and they are … meh. Only Biden and Karine Jean-Pierre would cheer about 1.8% real GDP growth. At least real GDP growth wasn’t negative!

Real GDP rose 2.6% after -0.6% in Q2 and 1.8% YoY. But the most interesting data bit is the GDP Price Index. It fell to 4.1% in Q3 down from a whopping 9.0% in Q2.

But wait! Also declining at a stall speed is M2 Money.

And brace yourself for a cold winter. Heating oil is UP 162% under Biden.

US Mortgage Rates At 7.20% As US Yield Curve 10YR-3MO Inverts (M2 Money YoY Lowest Since 2010)

As the midterm elections get close, the news for Americans gets worse.

On the housing/mortgage front, Bankrate’s 30-year mortgage rate (yellow line) just hit 7.20%, the highest since 2000. Also, the US Treasury 10yr-3mo yield curve (white line) inverted, historically a precursor to recession, before barely climbing back above 0%.

Meanwhile, M2 Money growth has collapsed to the lowest level since 2010.

US GDP numbers are due out at 8:30AM EST for Q3. The numbers are expected to show slow growth (around 2.4%) with rapid inflation (5.3%). While the GDP numbers are better than Q2’s numbers, they are still pretty lousy.